John Burroughs

We talk of communing with Nature, but 'tis with ourselves we commune... Nature furnishes the conditions - the solitude - and the…

— John Burroughs

I always feel that I have missed some good fortune if I am away from home when my bees swarm. What a…

— John Burroughs

If one gains an interest in the history of the earth, he is quite sure to gain an interest in the history…

— John Burroughs

Robin is one of the most native and democratic of our birds; he is one of the family, and seems much nearer…

— John Burroughs

Unadulterated, unsweetened observations are what the real nature-lover craves. No man can invent incidents and traits as interesting as the reality.

— John Burroughs

Nature will not be conquered, but gives herself freely to her true lover - to him who revels with her, bathes in…

— John Burroughs

To me, nothing else about a tree is so remarkable as the extreme delicacy of the mechanism by which it grows and…

— John Burroughs

I have discovered the secret of happiness - it is work, either with the hands or the head. The moment I have…

— John Burroughs

IT is reported of Margaret Fuller that she said she accepted the universe. "Gad, she'd better!" retorted Carlyle. Carlyle himself did not…

— John Burroughs

My group, the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, was one of the principle organizers. So, there was this campaign to support the…

— John Burroughs

There are nine countries in the world that have nuclear weapons. There are about 27,000 nuclear weapons total on the planet. The…

— John Burroughs

The art of the bird is to conceal its nest both as to position and as to material, but now and then…

— John Burroughs

Some of the animals outsee man, outsmell him, outhear him, outrun him, outswim him, because their lives depend more upon these special…

— John Burroughs

Following World War II, the U.S. was the architect of the UN system, and the world financial system, and the Human Rights…

— John Burroughs

I crave and seek a natural explanation of all phenomena upon this earth, but the word 'natural' to me implies more than…

— John Burroughs

The phoebe-bird is a wise architect and perhaps enjoys as great an immunity from danger, both in its person and its nest,…

— John Burroughs

England is like the margin of a spring-run: near its source, always green, always cool, always moist, comparatively free from frost in…

— John Burroughs

Fear, love, and hunger were the agents that developed the wits of the lower animals, as they were, of course, the prime…

— John Burroughs

Nature is not benevolent; Nature is just, gives pound for pound, measure for measure, makes no exceptions, never tempers her decrees with…

— John Burroughs

You cannot cause disproportionate damage to the environment; you cannot harm neutral states. The court said that the threat or use of…

— John Burroughs

The honey-bee's great ambition is to be rich, to lay up great stores, to possess the sweet of every flower that blooms.…

— John Burroughs

There is an international treaty framework for this. It's the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Most countries in the world are members of…

— John Burroughs

Why, we have invented the whole machinery of the supernatural, with its unseen spirits and powers, good and bad, to account for…

— John Burroughs

…success in walking is not to let your right foot know what your left foot doeth. Your heart must furnish such music…

— John Burroughs

There never was a happier or more devoted husband than the male bluebird. He is the gay champion and escort of the…

— John Burroughs

When Darwin published his conclusion that man was descended from an apelike ancestor who was again descended from a still lower type,…

— John Burroughs

Whitman will always be a strange and unwonted figure among his country's poets, and among English poets generally: a cropping out again,…

— John Burroughs

I always feel at home where the sugar maple grows… glorious in autumn, a fountain of coolness in summer, sugar in its…

— John Burroughs

Living in the city is a discordant thing, an unnatural thing. The city, a place to which one goes to do business,…

— John Burroughs

In the printed page the only real things are the paper and the ink; the white spaces play the same part in…

— John Burroughs

The bluebird enjoys the preeminence of being the first bit of color that cheers our northern landscape. The other birds that arrive…

— John Burroughs

“The lesson which life constantly repeats is to 'look under your feet.' You are always nearer to the divine and the true…

— John Burroughs

A plump, well-fed stream is as satisfying to behold as a well-fed animal or a thrifty tree. One source of charm in…

— John Burroughs

The Universe is a pretty big place... And the one thing I know about nature is it hates to waste anything. So…

— John Burroughs

[Theodore Roosevelt] was a naturalist on the broadest grounds, uniting much technical knowledge with knowledge of the daily lives and habits of…

— John Burroughs

Basically [United States and France] said "We will use nuclear weapons whenever it suits our purposes to do so." So this expansion…

— John Burroughs

When the woodpecker is searching for food, or laying siege to some hidden grub, the sound of his hammer is dead or…

— John Burroughs

The very idea of a bird is a symbol and a suggestion to the poet. A bird seems to be at the…

— John Burroughs

Most birds are very stiff-necked, like the robin, and as they run or hop upon the ground, carry the head as if…

— John Burroughs

Natural history is a matter of observation; it is a harvest which you gather when and where you find it growing. Birds…

— John Burroughs